Arizona State beats Northern Arizona 63-6
ASU football’s Thursday debut did not disappoint. Although there is much that can be said about the competitive caliber of NAU (or lack thereof), a few key questions were answered:
–Taylor Kelly can succeed under center, and the two-quarterback system looks to be promising. Both he and Michael Eubank took snaps (Eubank more often in the redzone, and usually only to rush as he threw just one pass); and Kelly looked good managing the team down the field. A few passes missed their intended target, but for the most part, it all connected for him (15-19, 247 yards, TD).
-Todd Graham runs a disciplined team. Poor performance was followed by benching, and his coaching elicited a comment from one of the refs that he was “absolutely amazed with [your] kids”.
-The Sun Devil defense was penalty free against NAU, holding them to 6 points. The offense looked equally as strong, allowing just one sack and averaging 6 yards per rush.
-Sparky does, in fact, still stomp the bus in a revamped intro video, which includes a flaming pitchfork from the sky and an iconic AZ weather phenomenon: the haboob.
The haboob
-Students show up: the student section was full for the entire first half, and they were loud and proud as they cheered Sparky on through the 7 push-ups he had to do after every ASU touchdown.
-The firework spectacle after each touchdown combined with the 63-6 final score to lead one 7-year old spectator in the crowd to comment that “they’re going to run out of fireworks.”
Both ASU and ESPN have more extensive (and technical) game recaps, and both offer predictions (and warnings) about Saturday’s game against Illinois. The Sun Devils have started off strong, but the Fighting Illini will likely prove a more formidable foe than did NAU (stay tuned for my game preview on Friday).
